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[Fire Emblem: Heroes] Hel's Angels

Fire Emblem Heroes, or FE:H for short, is a free-to-play (F2P) mobile version of Fire Emblem for your Android or Apple devices. It pulls characters from every single FE game, along with some new characters exclusive to this game.
The game is basically a small, bite-sized Fire Emblem game on your mobile device. Player teams consist of only 4 units and battles take place on 8x6 grids. Battles are very fast paced, yet still require careful planning and strategy. If you enjoyed games liek Fire Emblem Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates, you'll be right at home here. And if you're just discovering Fire Emblem for the first time, you'll have a great time! Check out all the helpful info below to get started.

NOTE: Since various Fire Emblem Wikis are far-better maintained than this OP can be, I will be linking to many sites that have current information. The below is a basic guide, but the links throughout are much more comprehensive if you really want to dive deep into the mechanics of FE:H. Credit to the Fire Emblem Heroes wiki on Gamepedia!!

Disclaimer: You may or may not regret spending real money on this game. It is possible to have a great time as a F2P player, but the urge to spend money is strong. Fair warning!

How much does this game cost?
It's free to download and play! You can use real money to purchase orbs, which are the main currency of Fire Emblem: Heroes. Orbs are used to summon heroes and expand your maximum hero space. You absolutely do not have to spend money on this game, but doing so definitely speeds up how quickly you can get the best heroes. Again, you don't need to...but you might have the urge for certain banners. Spend wisely, or not at all! More so than most gacha games though, Fire Emblem: Heroes is very free-to-play friendly, giving out a lot of bonus orbs and free heroes without needing to pay a dime. You can absolutely do very well without spending money as long as you keep up with quests and events to earn free resources.

What do you do in Fire Emblem: Heroes?
Win battles and build up your army! Essentially, your goal is to beat the story maps, quests, special maps, and compete in the Arena/Arena Assault against other players (controlled by AI). There's a lot to do and enjoyment can be gained simply from winning battles. Also, some people like to collect their favorite heroes or maximize their weekly Arena score. Figure out what makes sense to you. If you're here, you probably enjoy something about the game

What do the different colors of heroes mean?
Each color corresponds to the weapon type of the hero. FE:H employs the "Weapon Triangle" to decide advantages in battle. It's essentially like rock-paper-scissors. Red > Green > Blue > Red. And Colorless (Gray) is neutral to all colors. Each color gets a 20% bonus when attacking/defending the corresponding color they have an advantage against, and receives a 20% penalty when attacking/defending the color they are disadvantaged against. There are also certain skills and weapons that impact advantages, beyond the weapon triangle. Simply speaking...best to attack or be attacked by colors you have the advantage against, or at least no penalty!

What about movement type?
Each character has a specific movement type. Infantry can move 2 spaces, Armor can move 1, Cavalry can move 3, and Flying don't give a crap about forests or mountains, and can move 2 spaces like infantry. Certain weapons and skills give you advantages over certain movement types (e.g. Bows are effective against fliers, Armorslayer grants effective damage against armor, Wolf tomes are effective against calvary, etc).Guide to Movement Mechanics

When should I summon new heroes?
There are always Summoning Banners active. When you summon, you choose which banner you'd like to summon from. Each banner has specific heroes that are "Focus" units, meaning they are more likely to appear at 5* rarity. The more you summon from a banner, the higher likelihood you'll summon a 5* rarity hero. Your focus and 5* appearance rate will increase by 0.25 and each time you attempt to summon 5 heroes and will reset once you summon a 5* hero. Essentially, this means the more you summon from a specific banner, the higher likelihood of you summoning a 5* hero. So choose the banner with Focus heroes you like and summon away!

When you summon, you are presented with 5 Summoning Stones of varying colors. Your first summon on any banner is free. After that, the first Hero you summon from a group of Summoning Stones costs 5 Orbs. After this first stone, however, consecutive Summoning Stones will cost less orbs. Summoning 5 Heroes at the same time will cost 20 Orbs, meaning that you get one more Hero than you would have if you summoned each one individually.

Occasionally banners such as Hero Fest or a Legendary Summoning Event banner will be offered with boosted 5* rates. These are great banners for new players to summon on if you are just looking for powerful heroes to get you started. This is particularly true for Hero Fest which almost always offers four extremely good heroes at a boosted 5% rate. The Legendary Summoning Event is a good value if you aren't looking for a specific hero in particular since you will have a boosted 8% chance of pulling a 5* with no chance of pulling a 5* hero not shown on the banner, but can be bad if you are trying to snipe for specific heroes due to three heroes sharing each color (these banners also offer a lot of the limited time seasonal heroes which may or may not be as good depending on the hero).

How do I know if my heroes are any good?
There are some tier lists out there that can help with this: Tier List and Tier List - factoring in Skill Inheritance (i.e. the best one). Also, ask here! Players here have great knowledge about the game and are happy to help you out. Generally, the best units are 5-star rarity (referred to as 5* in the future). The more stars, the more stats the hero has. But each hero can be great with proper skill inheritance and merging, so don't be afraid to use your favorite characters.

So, sometimes the same hero is better or worse than the same hero? Sounds complicated!
Yes! And...yeah...it can be complicated. This feature can be a blessing and a curse. Each hero has a specific set of IVs (like Pokemon if you are familiar). Every character has 5 stats: HP, Attack, Speed, Defense, and Resistance. Among those stats, units can have a boosted stat (their boon) and a stat that is less than normal (their bane). So, certain heroes want certain combinations of boons and banes. A hero can also have neutral IVs, meaning they have no bane or boon. Generally, attacking heroes want Speed or Attack boons, with defensive heroes preferring Defense or Resistance. It is not always so simple though! And just because you get a -Spd Ryoma, for example, they are still usable. Getting a hero with perfect IVs is great...but not required.Stat Variation (IVs) GuideHandy Dandy IV CalculatorHow to Calculate IVs in Fire Emblem HeroesFEH Mass Duel Simulator (useful for determining IVs of merged heroes - play around with Boon and Bane until your stats match)

What is this "Skill Inheritance" I keep hearing about?
Each hero has skills that are specific to them. They can learn these skills based on their rarity (3*, 4*, 5*). If you don't want to use a hero for your team, or you get duplicates, you can give their skill to another hero you will use. You can use Inherit Skill to learn up to three skills at once from a hero. There are certain restrictions that apply - e.g. only certain weapon/movement types can learn certain skills. Also, some skills are exclusive to units (e.g. any "named" weapon like Falchion, Eckesachs, Urvan, cannot be inherited to another unit).Skill Inheritance Guide

Who should I send home for feathers and who should I keep for skill inheritance?
Eventually, you'll have too many heroes and need to figure out what to do with them. You can't use them all! Some heroes are very good for skill inheritance (e.g. Hinata for Fury 3, Lon'qu for Vantage 3, Roy for Triangle Adept 3, Shanna for Desperation 3). Some heroes aren't very useful for skill inheritance at all (e.g. Oboro, Raigh, Seliph). If you need help knowing which heroes to send home and which to keep for eventual skill inheritance, check out this helpful video:Phoenixmaster's Skill Fodder Tier List | Google Docs Version of the Guide

Which Sacred Seals should I prioritize creating/upgrading?
There are quite a few Sacred Seals available in the game so it can be difficult to know which seals are going to be the most useful to spend your limited number of Sacred Coins on. The top priority for crafting and upgrading to tier 3 should be the Quick Riposte, Distant Defense, Close Defense, and Heavy Blade seals as these are by far the best for a large number of heroes. For more rankings, refer to this video:Phoenixmaster's Sacred Seals Upgrade Priority List | Google Docs Version of the Guide

What is the Weapon Refinery?
After completing Book 1 Intermission: The Rite of Blades (unlocked after completing Chapter 13) you gain access to the Weapon Refinery. Here you can use Arena Medals, Refining Stones and Divine Dew to enhance many weapons in the game to make your heroes even stronger. The most common type of enhancement costs Arena Medals (earned through winning arena matches and some quests) and Refining Stones (mainly earned through quests) to add additional stats to a weapon. All generally offer additional HP, but also give a choice between additional might (weapon damage), speed, defense, or resistance. This is a great way for boosting a weak stat or improving an already high one (for example, making your high defense hero even more tanky). Some weapons can also be upgraded to an advanced form using these same two resources, such as upgrading Killing weapons to Slaying weapons, Armorslayer to Armorsmasher, Wolf tomes to Keen Wolf tomes, etc. Some weapons can also be upgraded to add additional effects, such as adding either Wrathful or Dazzling Staff skill effects to healer staves and more. Legendary weapons can also be upgraded using Arena Medals and Divine Dew (acquired by upgrading other weapons using Refining Stones). These often provide very powerful additional effects that are very much worth having if you can obtain enough Divine Dew. Similar to normal weapons, some legendary weapons can also be upgraded to more advanced forms in this same way, such as Tyrfing to Divine Tyrfing, Naga to Divine Naga, Aura to Dark Aura, etc.

How do I earn feathers, orbs, sacred coins, and badges/crystals to upgrade my heroes and summon more heroes?
Complete quests! There are daily, monthly, and special quests to complete, so pay attention to those. Also, completing maps for the first time typically yield rewards like orbs. You also should try to get the highest point totals you can each week in Arena and Arena Assault, for more rewards. Additionally, participating in special game modes like Tempest Trials and Voting Gauntlets will net you a lot of feathers, orbs, etc. Essentially...do stuff in game and get rewarded! Some things, like Tempest Trials, are pretty grindy to maximize rewards.More about Player Resources

Is there an easier way to earn items for Arena Assault? (and/or) I don't have enough good heroes to compete in Arena Assault, what should I do?
Arena Assault only picks teams based on the very first team you use. Knowing this, there is an easy strategy that will allow you to complete it very quickly and with a pretty small barracks. First, create a team with one strong 5* hero (I find Reinhardt to be a good choice, but really anything will work - just pick your best/favorite hero) and three empty slots (you can click "Undo" to blank out the other slots). Choose beginner as your difficulty and you'll be matched up with only a single hero. You can retry this until you get a beginner match with a hero that your hero can beat one-on-one. After this, all teams (as long as you continue to pick Beginner difficulty) will only have a single hero on them. Look at which hero is on the map and build special teams of color-advantage heroes to counter that one hero. Even if you don't have a lot of heroes, you can use teams of four to outnumber the hero, or rely on 4*s to pad your numbers. Complete a chain of 7 matches customizing your team to deal with the single hero in each match and you'll easily score three items, complete the daily Arena Assault quest quickly, and earn a score for a handful of feathers/coins/stones at the end of the week (not a good score, but any score is better than no score). Even the lowest rank is worth 500 feathers, 10 refining stones and 10 sacred coins.

These Grand Hero Battles, Bound Hero Battles and Special Maps are hard! Are there strategies to help me win?
Yes! Check out http://yaycupcake.com/feh/ for winning strategies, complete with videos. Thanks @Dr. Flamingo. Pheonixmaster1 will also usually post F2P guides for each one using only heroes that can be obtained for free and with minimal skill inheritence. And the Fire Emblem: Heroes subreddit is also a great source for strategies - look for the megathreads and try to find a strategy that matches the heroes you own.

Are there any good YouTube channels out there to help me?
Of course! See below:Pheonixmaster1 - unit discussions, tier lists, guides, GHB help, summoning videos and moreThe Sacred Spear - beginner guides and analysis videos for the gameLucky Crit - news, discussions, a few guides and also quite a bit of general Fire Emblem contentNintendo Mobile - Nintendo's official youtube channel for mobile games. You'll find all of the new banner videos and FEH Channels here.

How about Twitter channels to follow?@FEHeroes_News - fan-run account with tons of news on the game including most of the content from the official account actually translated into English. Probably the best account to follow.@theprinceofiris - fan account that will sometimes leak information about upcoming things. Also posts a ton of great FEH fan art. Huge Chrom fan.@NintendoAmerica/@NintendoEurope/@NintendoCanada - Official Nintendo English twitter account. This is where any Fire Emblem: Heroes news will appear (alongside other Nintendo things)@FE_Heroes_JP - The official Fire Emblem: Heroes twitter account. Unfortunately only in Japanese, but here it is if you're curious.

Settings and Tips (NEEDS UPDATING)
Here are a list of things you might want to know about while playing:

If a character has hearts around them in the castle area, tap on them to acquire a small amount of feathers.

Let lower level characters get the killing hit. Killing blows grant more XP. Soften enemies up with higher levels characters and finish them off with the weaklings.

If you kill an enemy 4 levels lower than you, you gain no XP.

If a hero dies in battle, they lose all XP they earned that map.

Healers can gain XP by healing. Always heal when possible (even if it's only 1 XP). They won't gain XP if they've healed too much on a map though. Healers can also learn attack skills once they've earned enough SP, and this lets them earn normal XP.

Characters that are 4* or higher automatically become "Favorited". You can disable or change this option in the Settings.

Sometimes it's good not to attack. What?! There are some cases where if you attack, then the enemy can attack and kill you on their turn. If you don't attack, you'll deal counter attack damage and then finish them off on your turn. Great for choke point scenarios.

If you want things to go faster, disable attack animations.

Fridays and Saturdays are bonus SP days. You're earn double the amount of SP than normal making them great days to train up new heroes to level 40 or farm SP on your heroes to learn new skills.

Friend's ListHere's our PA friend list. Add yourself today! Make sure to send out a greeting. Occasionally a hero might show up with a gift!

Helpful Links

Fire Emblem Heroes GamePress - Best website for hero stats, builds, patch datamining and more (a lot of these guides below are linked from here)

Let me use this opportunity for a bit of a rant, as the subject in question appears on multiple banners right now.

Dorcas is a bad unit. He is a bad character. He features some of the very worst art in the entire game, has no personality, his dialogue is uninteresting, his stats are uninteresting and his skills are uninteresting. He's a strong unit, but uninteresting nonetheless, and definitely not a 5* exclusive worth investing heavily into.

His claim to fame is a meme of a commercial that was hilariously unrelated to the game it was advertising.

I do not enjoy that we got more shitty Dorcas art for this year's event.

Let me use this opportunity for a bit of a rant, as the subject in question appears on multiple banners right now.

Dorcas is a bad unit. He is a bad character. He features some of the very worst art in the entire game, has no personality, his dialogue is uninteresting, his stats are uninteresting and his skills are uninteresting. He's a good unit, but uninteresting nonetheless, and definitely not a 5* exclusive worth investing heavily into.

His claim to fame is a meme of a commercial that was hilariously unrelated to the game it was advertising.

I do not enjoy that we got more shitty Dorcas art for this year's event.

Dorcas is in every TT autobattle team I run. He's got decent attack, distant counter, Infantry Pulse, and solid enough defenses to compensate for a little AI stupidity. His artwork is fine, it's just a little incongruous with the anime styles typically on display. Hell, he's tanky enough that you can autobattle most of the Special Training maps solo, so he doesn't need more than a few minutes of investment to get up to 40 and enough SP to buy his base kit.

I mean sure he's not an interesting character but he fills a niche for me. I wish I had red and blue units with the same kit.

Let me use this opportunity for a bit of a rant, as the subject in question appears on multiple banners right now.

Dorcas is a bad unit. He is a bad character. He features some of the very worst art in the entire game, has no personality, his dialogue is uninteresting, his stats are uninteresting and his skills are uninteresting. He's a good unit, but uninteresting nonetheless, and definitely not a 5* exclusive worth investing heavily into.

His claim to fame is a meme of a commercial that was hilariously unrelated to the game it was advertising.

I do not enjoy that we got more shitty Dorcas art for this year's event.

Dorcas is in every TT autobattle team I run. He's got decent attack, distant counter, Infantry Pulse, and solid enough defenses to compensate for a little AI stupidity. His artwork is fine, it's just a little incongruous with the anime styles typically on display. Hell, he's tanky enough that you can autobattle most of the Special Training maps solo, so he doesn't need more than a few minutes of investment to get up to 40 and enough SP to buy his base kit.

I mean sure he's not an interesting character but he fills a niche for me. I wish I had red and blue units with the same kit.

The only good thing I had to say about him was that he's not a weak unit. No need to expand on why. He is currently in my TT autobattle team as well, all distant counter units get maxed out on Hero Merit pretty quickly for me.

Nephenee is my go-to blue for TT. I've been sitting on a Hector for ages now trying to figure out whether to keep him (I never use him), feed him to Effie to make her a monster, or feed him to Neph to round out my DC color triangle.

I think Dorcas is awesome and I loved him even before I knew about that commercial existing. I was super stoked we got another Dorcas for this. Plus I think his art is hilarious

Edit: Side note, bleeeehhhh lost out on a deathless arena assault run in the 7th match. Stupid Silas, why did I not put Reposition back on you?!?!?!?! I go to reposition Zelgius to safety and he gets a dual rally instead -_- I guess it's fine tho, I already messed up earlier in the run by using a fire hero on accident. That wouldn't have hurt score as much as having a hero die tho...

Also I am quickly seeing I need like a billion Legendary Tiki counters.... *sigh*

I have some pretty expensive builds on units but outside the assist and her weapon, every single piece of this build required a 5* inherit. (I can actually get her a 5* exclusive in the assist slot if Quan ends up being on the Drive Atk banner, too.) She's every bit as ridiculous as you probably imagine she is, and she's usually flanked by my Nowi and Tiki, who themselves bring another Ward Dragons and Fortify Dragons. She was even more insane when I had Summoner Support on her, but those days are gone.

My free roll today was a 3 star Clair, which I was actually excited about. She made my Clair prime +7 and added 1 atk and 1 spd. Sitting at 49/39 now before Swift Sparrow. She has low defense but can wreck armor and cav pretty easily with her iceburg double.

I got a bunch of 3* garbage. I pulled a couple extras just to see if I could get an Innes or Tana but nada. Gave up after like 5 pulls of junk. Probably shouldn't be wasting my free orbs but bleh, oh well.

I got a bunch of 3* garbage. I pulled a couple extras just to see if I could get an Innes or Tana but nada. Gave up after like 5 pulls of junk. Probably shouldn't be wasting my free orbs but bleh, oh well.

Brazen stacking is genuinely insane. My Hardin, with *zero support* from other units, and only at +1, gets up to 47 Def and 46 Res with Brazen activated, between his A skill and the new seal. So he's always doubling you because of Vengeful Fighter, and you get trucked every engagement by Bonfires working off of 57 Attack and 47 Defense. Very arguably the best or second best mixed tank in the entire game.

Brazen stacking is genuinely insane. My Hardin, with *zero support* from other units, and only at +1, gets up to 47 Def and 46 Res with Brazen activated, between his A skill and the new seal. So he's always doubling you because of Vengeful Fighter, and you get trucked every engagement by Bonfires working off of 57 Attack and 47 Defense. Very arguably the best or second best mixed tank in the entire game.

I have the same feeling of insanity with Alfonse stacking brazens. He does have the bonus unit boost in effect (because when else will you field the unmergable Askr trio? ), but Alfonse can hit 69 attack and 54 defense. His RES is a bit of an weak point, but at 58 HP he still has enough bulk to tank some magic hits.

He can run a third brazen with his seal slot, but I think that he's best off running the vantage /deflect melee combo and just taking damn near any color melee unit head on.

The transformation of him since his refine has been insane. He went from being the bench lord who just sucks at fighting to one of the most frightening melee duelists in my army. Only my Arden is stronger and tougher in a physical melee duel. He's one of the units that I often find is quite capable of comfortably fighting against the color triangle.

Brazen stacking is genuinely insane. My Hardin, with *zero support* from other units, and only at +1, gets up to 47 Def and 46 Res with Brazen activated, between his A skill and the new seal. So he's always doubling you because of Vengeful Fighter, and you get trucked every engagement by Bonfires working off of 57 Attack and 47 Defense. Very arguably the best or second best mixed tank in the entire game.

Does your Hardin have his def/res still or did you give him a different one?

Brazen stacking is genuinely insane. My Hardin, with *zero support* from other units, and only at +1, gets up to 47 Def and 46 Res with Brazen activated, between his A skill and the new seal. So he's always doubling you because of Vengeful Fighter, and you get trucked every engagement by Bonfires working off of 57 Attack and 47 Defense. Very arguably the best or second best mixed tank in the entire game.

Does your Hardin have his def/res still or did you give him a different one?

Nah I kept his Def/Res still, I like it a lot on him. He actually doesn't see much use, even in Arena Assault, though he probably will now that I gave him a Vengeful. Otherwise I'm happy to keep the budget skill on him.

I like when I can set it and forget it with sacred seals, and I have no better candidate for the new Brazen seal than him.

He uses all his stats, so he's a really good candidate for +10, and I'll target him if I see him on a reasonable banner, but I'm probably not going to go all out on a 5* exclusive again, it took an absurd amount of luck (and like four different banners for Myrrh) to get either of the two I have now.

I like that this Heroic Feats thing has quickly pivoted to "let's give out more copies of limited run free heroes." Yes, I would like another Marisa. Do Tobin next! Actually, do female robin like 4 more times and then do Tobin :3 I will also take like, Narcian or Michaelis. I foddered too many off for skills and now I kinda wanna merge some of them. I should legit actually build up a Narcian... Emerald Axe is nice Arena Assault material...

The only limited unit I have ever foddered was a BK, otherwise everyone was clogging up my goddamn barracks forever up until the introduction of combat manuals. Not that I'll ever really need an Ursula or Narcian or a bunch of the others.

A few of them are pretty nice though, especially some of the recent casters.

The only limited unit I have ever foddered was a BK, otherwise everyone was clogging up my goddamn barracks forever up until the introduction of combat manuals. Not that I'll ever really need an Ursula or Narcian or a bunch of the others.

A few of them are pretty nice though, especially some of the recent casters.

I foddered a couple of them. I foddered some Narcians for Lancebreaker before Oscar came out, and I wanna say an Oliver and a Marisa and a Joshua. I kinda wish I hadn't but they had good skills :3 I also accidentally sent home a Michaelas once which I am still salty about. Stupid 3*s.... (edit: Actually I foddered a male Kana too I think to give that dumb Water Breath skill to Ninian, which I don't even use now... I don't know why I let someone talk me into that, it sucked... Lightning Breath all the way...)

Honestly tho I just want green units... I need all the Tiki counters I can get right now... Especially anyone with good res or triangle weapons I actually wouldn't mind some more Linuses... I put a blessing on him and he's super solid as an axe unit when his blessing season comes up in AA.

Edit: Bah, this reminded me I still hadn't converted all those heroes to combat manuals, for some dumb reason. Considering I have 5*s of each one, no reason to not do that. So I went through and did it There were a lot of them One of these days I will save some 20k feather slots to give some of those heroes some merges. I feel like a couple of them deserve it, like Arden who is a damn champ.

Need a quick answer: A unit with Desperation 3 initiates on a unit with Vantage 3, both units are within the HP threshold. Who attacks first?

Probably Vantage. I am not positive but I feel like Vantage takes priority over everything. (outside of one of those anti-vantage skills)

Edit: Yes, I'm pretty sure this is correct. I went back to look at the skill descriptions:

Vantage - If unit's HP <= 75% and foe initiates combat, unit can counterattack before foe's first attack
Desperation - If unit's HP <= 75% and unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack

The key here is "follow-up attack" - Desperation lets you double before the counter attack. Vantage lets you counterattack before *any* attack. Therefore I think Vantage wins because Desperation doesn't modify the initial attack and Vantage does. I imagine the two do some weird stuff if the Vantage person naturally doubles tho.

Assuming both users satisfy the HP thresholds, and a Desperation user is initiating into a Vantage user. Vantage always takes priority, but Desperation also activates, so it goes...

Vantage -> Desperation -> Desperation -> Vantage

That's assuming the Vantage user can double, which can only happen in a pretty limited number of ways (since there is no Vengeful Fighter or Vantage sacred seals, those two skills can never coexist unless either effect is on a weapon). Quick Riposte sacred seal only coexists with Vantage activations in the 70-75% HP window. The most common situation where both units double is probably where the defender outspeeds the attacker but the attacker has a Brash Assault type of effect.

The key word is definitely follow up attacks. Vantage manipulates the ordering of counterattacks but does nothing to manipulate follow up attacks. Desperation rearranges your follow up to be immediately after your attack. So vantage cuts the counter attack to the front of the line, then attacker connects, then Desperation lets the attacker connect again with the follow up, and then the defender has an opportunity for follow ups if applicable.

I think weirdness occurs with vantage and steady breath. IIRC, I was noticing steady breath users enjoy their special acceleration while on the offensive when my Alfonse defensively strikes first with vantage. I'll need to pay attention to tell for sure next time. I just remember that someone fired off an Ignis or aether that they shouldn't have, but thankfully it hit on the second attack where deflect melee makes my Alfonse invincible.